Red and Yellow make Orange
by Rabbit Pie
Summary: The little boy's sky-blue eyes were wide and clear with childish innocence. Naruto never understood the bed he was making for himself, and the night he had to lie in it he cried himself to sleep.


**Red and Yellow make Orange**

This was originally intended to be the prologue of a larger story, but I am realistic and know I will never get around to it. So I posted it instead. Enjoy.

What do you think of the tense changes?

x.x

This is the scene:

A little boy swings his legs jovially as he sits on a park bench. Seagulls have gathered around him and they fluff themselves up and cry for bread. The boy ignores their fire-ice gazes easily and munches on a loaf of bread.

The summer sky shines brightly from his eyes and glints off his toothy smile. Look too close, and you will see that those eyes might be too bright, touched with giddy hysteria, and his smile manic.

No-one looks though, so the little boy is safe.

x.x

Not too far away, a cashier is returning from work. For the first time she notices that she is missing the bread she bought at the store before heading home. She thinks of the empty bread-box that awaits her at and the empty purse in her pocket and curses the demon-child that she knows is responsible.

Tomorrow, she will take a loaf from the store to replace her stolen sustenance, and she will tell her co-workers that the demon-child stole it. They will understand, and curse the boy for stealing the profits and choking their salaries.

The next time the woman needs bread, she will remember how easy it was to steal the loaf, and she will recognise it as the path of least resistance. The demon-child has offered himself up as a sacrificial lamb, a scapegoat, before her. Her co-workers will grow angry. She will grow secure.

If she feels guilty, her co-workers will reassure her that the child is a monster. Even then, occasionally she will have to remind herself that she is only walking the trail the boy blazed for her.

One loaf, out so many that the little boy stole, earns him tens of glares as the story spreads.

x.x

Of all the colours in the rainbow, Naruto likes Red and Yellow best. Red and Yellow aren't like the other colours. Red and Yellow talk. The other children and grown-ups don 't believe him though, but he knows hes right. Yellow always tells him to do his homework (Naruto thinks Yellow s pretty bossy) and Red keeps on muttering about power. Naruto isn't quite sure why Red does this, he thinks the things Yellow says are much more interesting than Red.

He doesn't think that Yellow likes Red, and Red certainly doesn't like Yellow at all. Naruto knows this to be true because whenever Yellow talks to him he feels Red getting angry and talking about eating Yellow.

Red doesn't understand that there is a difference to eating food and eating people. Naruto likes ramen, and ramen is food so he eats it. Naruto likes Yellow, too, but he doesn't want to eat Yellow. He s not sure if Yellow is a person, but he knows Yellow's not food. Red is really a bit crazy.

Whenever Naruto starts talking about Red and Yellow, people call him crazy too. He knows he s not crazy though, because he's telling the truth. He knows it to be the truth because Yellow says funny things about grown-ups and they go pink when he tells, and Red always heals him when he hurts.

He doesn't like being called crazy though, so he's stopped talking about Red and Yellow.

x.x

One day, Naruto saw a circle on the back of a packet of coloured pencils. It was bright and colourful and happy, and Naruto thought it looked very nice so he took it home and taped it to the wall.

(The shopkeeper didn't want him to take it and chased him all the way down the street. Yellow didn't want him to take it, either. Naruto never noticed the new glares among the hundreds or the new coldness amongst the chill.)

He trailed his fingers around the circle, naming the colours. There was Yellow, green, blue and purple, Yellow, orange and Red. Naruto realised that orange was between Yellow and Red. Yellow and Red were always nice to him, and Naruto wanted to be a colour too. He'd be orange, so he could sit next to Yellow and Red on circle of colour.

Other people think he s an orphan, but Naruto knows better. He knows others would say it's silly and call him crazy, but he knows he's Orange, and Red and Yellow are his parents.

x.x

Even Iruka-sensei agrees that Red and Yellow make Orange.


End file.
